Proper Length for a Jacket

I'm not very experienced with buying jackets/blazers and I'm in a bit of a rush to buy one. What should be the proper length of the jacket and how should it fall?

It should cover your seat without significant excess. Beyond that, factors such as height and build play roles in determining the best length. But that's probably more than you want/need to know.

Assuming you are of regular proportions, it should cover your rear end by about 1" of safety margin. At least, you never want it to be shorter than this (for business/non-fashion purposes, anyway). This is the easiest rule to judge.

There are other rules, such as 1/2 the distance from the top of the collar to the floor, but those are more difficult to explain, so I will leave it up to others.

Oh man this sounds hard.

If anything, men tend to wear them too damn long. There needs to be a little room for your shirt cuffs to show a bit. Don't trust the salesman, insist on showing a little cuff.

Originally Posted by j

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Assuming you are of regular proportions, it should cover your rear end by about 1" of safety margin. At least, you never want it to be shorter than this (for business/non-fashion purposes, anyway). This is the easiest rule to judge.

There are other rules, such as 1/2 the distance from the top of the collar to the floor, but those are more difficult to explain, so I will leave it up to others.

Er, the rear end being a sphere, if I take a vertical tangent to the sphere, is that where you mean the bottom of the jacket should fall to?

Originally Posted by clownmitts

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Er, the rear end being a sphere, if I take a vertical tangent to the sphere, is that where you mean the bottom of the jacket should fall to?

I've never seen science applied to this question in quite this manner. Impressive.

Going less than 1" past the ass is okay for business.

Are you wanting to know if you need a regular, long or short jacket? Or are you concerned only with the aesthetic aspect of jacket length?

If you take your height in inches, divide by 2, subtract 4 inches, that is your approximate jacket length. Example; I am 5'7" or 67". half is 33 1/2" less 4" is 29 1/2". That is a good length for me, but because of my girth a jacket length of 30" looks better. I have that option because my clothes are custom made. With RTW you only can choose from short, regular or long. There is usually about 1" difference between each. Every designer has his own idea of what length to cut a jacket, it is not standardized through out the industry so your results will vary with different makers and style trends. Have you seen Thom Brown?

Take someone with you or find a sales person with a good sense of proportion that would advise you honestly and that you trust if you are uncomfortable deciding for yourself. Eventually you need to set your own standard to judge jacket length because everyone has their own opinion of what looks right and listening to others will drive you crazy.
Was this any help?

Originally Posted by whoopee

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Going less than 1" past the ass is okay for business.
I meant shorter than covering the butt itself, sorry for not being clear there.

Chris has great advice there.

I whipped up a quick diagram (shortly to be picked apart) to explain what I meant by the rear-end rule, since we try to explain this a lot:

Note that the "1/2 the distance from the top of the collar to the floor" measure is while wearing dress shoes, which will give you about an inch of height.

The "Cover your ass 0.5-1 inch beyond the lowest horizontal tangent" is one of the best methods.

If you have long arms for your height (a positive ape index) make certain that you have enough sleeve length! I could sometimes use a Short jacket (I am 5'10", but the sleeves aren't long enough, so I take a Regular jacket. Ideally I would get the jacket shortened by an inch, but this is something I've never attempted.

There is also a lot or variation in jacket length between manufacturers in sizes Short, Regular, and Long, so you have to try the jacket on.

Originally Posted by clownmitts

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Er, the rear end being a sphere, if I take a vertical tangent to the sphere, is that where you mean the bottom of the jacket should fall to?

Not hardly. Maybe a horizontal tangent plus 1 inch.

Perry